31. August 2007 by admin.

I woke up around 6:00 am this morning…. Couldn’t sleep. Now for most of you out there 6:00 am is sleeping in late, but for your good friend Jade over here that’s way way early! I’m not a morning person - that’s why I chose a profession that allowed me to go to work everyday at 10:00 am.

Well, guys - I think I’m stressin’ out. I have a lot of things on my mind - I’ll spare you the details. But in short, I’m feeling a bit hendered at the moment. I feel like everything that I want to accomplish is directly dependent on someone or something else (that is out of my control).

I really need to give myself a kick in the butt. There should be nothing that directly affects me that is “out of my control”. If you really want something you’ll find a way to get it.

With that said, I really need to buckle down and dedicate more time to the GMAT. Its really hard when you have a full time job, friends and family to worry about, and hobbies (that you LOVE). But the reality of it is, this GMAT is more than just “The GMAT” - its one of the first steps that I need to take to improve my quality of life.

My mom emailed me this really cool website with some great MBA info on it: www.infozee.com

I’ll repost some really good articles from there for all to see =)

Laterz Gaterz!

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24. August 2007 by admin.

Still going through the Princeton Review.  I started thumbing through the Official GMAT guide. I’ve read several reviews and posting stating that OG is the BIBLE.  I saw a lot of the problems and I’m already scared lol!

I think I’ll stick to the Princeton Review for right now so I can go over the basic math concepts. I have a feeling if I jump right into OG that I’ll feel overwhelmed.

There are a lot of math concepts to review from high school - just a lot to remember.  I’m still working on flash cards - haven’t gone through them yet though.

I’m happy because I finally finished the website for my friend Summer *sigh of relief* that sucker was weighing heavy on my shoulders.  If any of you are into film and are from the south check it out!  www.charlestoninternationalfilmfestival.com

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21. August 2007 by admin.

Today I made notecards of basic math concepts that I needed to refresh myself on.  It seemed so simple but I figured if you can’t get the basics down then how can you expect to get the hard questions right!

Some of the items I wrote down:

1. Absolute Value
2. Distribultive Law
3. Adding and Subtracting positive & negative numbers
4. Adding and Subtracting fractions
5. Adding, Subtracting, Multiplying and Dividing fractions
6. Problem solving with fractions and decimals

I’m starting to go over ratios. Fun!

Haha.

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19. August 2007 by admin.

Wow, so its Day 2.  I did a lot of house work today - washed dishes, cleaned clothes, attempted to make some kind of sense of my room.  I decided to crack open the books I bought from Barnes & Noble - The Princeton Review’s Cracking the GMAT 2008 Edition and Kaplan’s GMAT 800 (2007/2008 Edition). The author of BeattheGMAT.com does a great job of outlining thier study experience.  Using this experience as a framework I decided to start reading Princeton Review’s book first. 

As I started to read the book I realized that the DVD would probably be a better place to start.  I quickly popped in the DVD and was presently surprised that it gave me such a good overview of the GMAT. 

If you don’t get excited about the idea of cracking open a 3 inch page book filled with math problems you haven’t done since high school then this DVD is excellent. My only qualms with this DVD is that they focused so much on this one Asian chick who was totally annoying.  Some of the other instructors seemed well-rehearsed, talked with ease, and seemed very competent.  This chick was rambling and stumbled over ever other word.  All of the people on this DVD claimed to be Princeton Review instructors - I just kept thinking if I got her as my instructor I’d ask for my money back!

So besides the annoying chick the DVD did a pretty good job of going over the format of the GMAT, mentioned some of the strategies, and even gave some sample questions.  Now don’t be discouraged (I was!) when you see them going over these problems.  The really don’t give much explination - and the explination that they do give you don’t make sense….  Well, that’s where the book comes in and long hours studying it. 

I like the Princeton Review because it goes step by step and they keep it real.  They know most of this stuff is barried in your head somewhere - they do a good job of dragging it out without all the bullshit.  They get right to the point and tell you only the stuff you need to know.  

They start out with math and give you some pretty good basic strategies to use and start practicing for the test immediately.  I suggest having some note cards on hand and a good stack of scratch paper.

The book is easy to read.  Today I put in about an hour and of studying and whipped through the first 7 or 8 chapters no problem.

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17. August 2007 by admin.

Wow, today I started my GMAT studies by buying a few books that were recommended to me by beatthegmat.com. Wonderful resource btw - I think this is THE BEST you are going to get on the web! I will probably refer back to this site (Beat the Gmat) a lot - I’ll be taking the same approach as the author (blogs, advice, my experience, etc.) and studying to kick this GMATs ass.

I personally don’t believe in standardized test - I don’t think it is a measure of how smart you are nor do they test your creativity, people skills, or emotional stability - all factors that are important when you are dealing with business or the general public for that matter.But it is a good way to weed out people who are not dedicated or organized.

It takes a lot of perverbial “balls” to study for the gmat, especially if you’ve been out of school as long as I have (just about 5 years), but after you get a taste of the real world and being thrown under the bus enough times by your co-workers and clients, taking the gmat to go back to school seems like a walk in the park!

Beat the GMAT reviews several books and highlights which ones aided the most in scoring high (above 700).  The one that I wanted to get my hands on the most was the Official Guide for GMAT Review. A few things you should know about the Official Guide for GMAT Review:              

              * You can’t buy it at Borders or Barnes & Nobles
                 (I found that out the hard way lol!)               

              * Second, you CAN get it at mba.com
                 (I wouldn’t really recommend unless you like spending 
                 full price for a copy)                

              *  I decided to use Amazon.com
                  (I think I bought my copy for about $16 plus shipping and 
                  handling, it should arrive next week)               

              *  Apparently we NEED this book. 
                  The GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council) has 
                  refused to let anyone license actual questions from old
                  tests.  They are only attainable in this “Official Guide.”
                  Smart bastards!   

Okay, so I trecked out in the 102° heat today to find these damn books so I could get started. Like I said earlier, I didn’t realize that you couldn’t get these books at Joe Blow Bookstore but did have a few other books on BTG that I thought I would buy until my other books came in.

 

I ended up buying The Princeton Review’s Cracking the GMAT 2008 Edition WITH the DVD. They do have a version without the DVD but I decided that being apart YouTube generation if it took watching some video to give me a jump start than I would take it (besides it was only a few dollars different).I also decided to pick up Kaplan’s GMAT 800 (2007/2008 Edition) (also recommended by BTG).

 
My purchase came out to about $108 dollars or so (I bought a few other misc. books) and the guy at the counter talked me into buying some discount rewards card for $25 (10% off all purchases and free shipping for online orders $25 and over). All and all I was really happy about my purchases and making a sound decision to change my life.

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